Kyocera To Acquire Sanyo's Mobile Phone Unit For $375 Million

After months of negotiations, Kyocera and Sanyo Electric have reached a tentative agreement whereby Kyocera will acquire Sanyo's mobile phone operation. The deal is expected to be concluded April 1.

With investors Goldman Sachs Group and Daiwa Securities pressuring Sanyo's founding family to make a deal, an agreement was reached Tuesday, according to media reports from Japan. Reports said the sales price was $375 million.

In spite of pressure from investors to sell the mobile phone business, the unit's handsets had generally received high marks from consumers.

For instance, last March Sanyo unveiled its ultrarugged SCP-7050 phone that met U.S. Military Standard 810F for dust, shock, and vibration. It was well received by consumers in construction and maintenance work and by outdoor enthusiasts as well.

Neil Mawston, associate director at telecom consulting firm Strategy Analytics, said Tuesday that a combined Kyocera-Sanyo handset operation would give the new entity a global CDMA handset market share of about 10%. "This gives them greater scale," Mawston said in a statement. "Kyocera-Sanyo is now the clear number four vendor in this market and they are breathing down the necks of LG, Motorola, and Samsung in the three places above."

Negotiations between Kyocera and Sanyo have been under way since at least October, when Sanyo said it had entered final negotiations to sell the unit. Sanyo has said it wants to concentrate on solar energy and battery products.